


Invisible Defender

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: 500 prompts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-13
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-29 07:04:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1002390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because a gateway looks unguarded, that doesn't mean it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invisible Defender

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a '500 Prompts' meme. Prompt 494, from [Liadt](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Liadt/pseuds/Liadt): "Invisible Defender - Leela"

The settlement of Jamesville towered above the dunes, looking like an ugly metal box someone had placed upside-down on the sand. Its windowless metal walls, sloping outward at a slight angle, had stood long enough to be streaked with rust and mineral salts. In the morning light, to the two travellers crouching behind a nearby ridge of sand, the overall impression was one of impregnability, bordering on hostility. 

Poul lowered the periscope through which he'd been examining the citadel, and looked at the small display below the eyepiece. 

"We're past their primary screens," he said. "We should be able to get in through the access port on this wall." He drew a quick diagram in the sand at his feet. "About here." 

Leela examined the improvised map, committing it to memory, then nodded. 

They crept over the ridge, keeping their heads down, and crept up to the walls of the citadel. The sand here seemed frozen into fantastic waves and whirlpools; the entrance they sought was at the bottom of a deep depression, suggesting that since the settlement had been built, the level of the sand against this wall had risen. 

As they reached the lip of the depression and began to descend, Leela suddenly caught at Poul's arm. 

"Go no further," she said. "The gate is guarded." 

Poul looked at her, and then back at the entrance. 

"The detector's clear," he said. "No force fields, no sensors." He put the periscope to his eye. "Nothing on the infrared. No lifesigns." 

"Exactly!" Leela pointed to the slope that led down to the entrance. "Look at the bones. Why should there be bones here but not elsewhere?" 

Poul looked down at the two bleached remnants. 

"I think that's the skull from a pixie gecko," he said. "And the other bone's from something bigger, perhaps a stormcreeper. They're both harmless enough creatures." 

"That means whatever guards this door does not make choices. Harmless or harmful, it slays all." 

"So what do you suggest we do? Give up and go home?" 

"Sevateem do not give up." Leela loosened her knife in its sheath. "But this place has a feel I do not care for. There is Tesh trickery at work. We may die without so much as a sight of our foe." 

"Then let's go." 

"I will go. If I am struck down, you may see how it was done." 

Leela advanced down the slope, the sand grains skittering around her feet in a series of miniature landslides. By the time she reached the bottom, she was none the wiser about what might have killed the animals here. The sand showed only vague imprints, which could have been the marks of humans or robots. She knelt down to look at one of the footprints, which seemed entirely normal. Perhaps whatever lurked here did not attack robots; or the marks had been left by a human who could defend against it. She touched the footprint, finding that her hand was shaking slightly. 

"Found anything?" Poul asked, from his vantage point at the top of the pit. 

"I cannot tell," Leela replied. She stood up, feeling a little dizzy, and approached the door. Wiping a sudden sweat from her forehead, she tried to make out the details of its construction. The small box to one side had to be the lock, but breaking that would be Poul's concern rather than hers. She squinted at what had to be the manufacturer's name; the letters seemed to dance before her eyes. Her head ached. Somewhere in the distance, Poul was calling to her, but she couldn't make out the words. 

She turned and took two steps forward. The slope towered up before her, like a mountain. She slipped, her legs unsteady, stumbled, and fell forward. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of sand sliding down onto her face. 

⁂

"You were right," Poul's voice said. "It was a trap." 

"What?" Leela tried, and failed, to sit up. Her head still ached, and her legs remained weak, but at least she was still alive. "What happened to me? I saw nothing." 

"According to the medpack, hypercapnia." He looked at her blank expression. "Carbon dioxide inhalation." 

"You make yourself no clearer." Leela's mind was slowly clearing; the blur above her was resolving into Poul's shemagh-wrapped head, looking down at her. She realised her own head must be resting in his lap. 

"It's a gas," Poul said. "Normally harmless, but in high concentrations it could knock you out or kill you. And it's heavier than air, so if the hollow was filled with it, that's where it would stay." 

"The robots." Leela managed, this time, to sit up. "I saw the footprints of many robots. This gas would not harm them?" 

"No, it wouldn't." He nodded. "They probably use robots to make sure the gas concentration stays high. Get them to bring out a block or two of dry ice when it's required, and pick up any humans who get caught. Whoever came up with those orders didn't think about animal bodies, though." 

"If I had not seen those bones, we would both have been down there," Leela said. "We would both have fallen to the gas." A thought struck her. "What happened, after I fell?" 

"I went down after you and dragged you out." 

"That was foolish," Leela said, without heat. "It could have killed you, too." 

"It took a minute or so to knock you out. I reasoned that I could get you out of there in less than a minute. Anyway, now we know what we're up against, we can take appropriate measures. It could be as simple as hyperventilating beforehand and then holding our breath until we've got the door open." 

"The tales are right, then. If the people in this city lay invisible poisons around their gates, it must be to defend some dangerous secret." 

"Still want to be in on the investigation?" 

Leela took his hand in her own. "Nothing could stop me."


End file.
